ITEST Webinar
Fides et Ratio:
When Ideology Distorts Science and Medicine
Saturday, June 20, 2026
7:00 am – 9:00 am (Pacific)
8:00 am – 10:00 am (Mountain)
9:00 am – 11:00 am (Central)
10:00 am – noon (Eastern)
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm (London)
Register at the bottom of this page for this webinar.
Webinar fee: $10
No charge for: ITEST members, clergy, seminarians, women and men religious
Donations are appreciated.
Webinar Abstract
Scientific research should be guided by virtues of compassion, justice, and human dignity. That influence must avoid biasing the interpretation of experimental studies but may impact recommendations and policy. Two recent examples of gross distortion of this collaboration in pediatric medicine have been puberty blockers (2012-2024) and vaccine policy (2025-26).
Our presenters
Kevin Powell, M.D., Ph.D
Fides et Ratio:
When Ideology Distorts Science and Medicine
Kevin Powell, M.D. Ph.D. FAAP, is a retired pediatrician who specialized in the care of hospitalized children. Prior to medical school he worked as a chemical engineer in industry and academia, earning a Ph.D. in Medical Engineering from a joint program of Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alongside clinical care, for 18 years he served on or chaired hospital ethics committees and was a clinical ethics consultant. His last academic position was on faculty at Saint Louis University and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. He is Lutheran.
Abstract
Scientific research should be guided by virtues of compassion, justice, and human dignity. That influence must avoid biasing the interpretation of experimental studies but may impact recommendations and policy. Two recent examples of gross distortion of this collaboration in pediatric medicine have been puberty blockers (2012-2024) and vaccine policy (2025-26).
Francis Etheredge
What good is God seeking to draw out of the present crises?
Francis Etheredge is a Catholic married layman, with eleven children, three of whom he hopes are in heaven and the rest of whom are alive and well and stepping through life’s stages of school, university, and career. In the last ten years, he has returned to being a self-employed writer. Find some of his books listed in the resources section below.
Abstract
Already the Second Vatican Council, in 1962-1965, was laying the foundation of human identity, both philosophically and theologically. Simultaneously, in the life and work of St. John Paul II, we see that certain themes had come to the fore, namely the contrast between “use” and “love”; the existence from the beginning of man, male and female, called to communion in marriage and to various other forms of collaboration; and, more widely, but equally just as relevant, each man and woman is called to discover being loved by Jesus Christ and invited into a relationship to His Church.
In view of this background of “relationship”, as it were, we can see that there are many forms of relationship-denial, beginning with contraception and abortion; and, because of these, the manipulation of the human person proceeds apace – both in terms of dividing the human being into a self which does accept itself as a gift, whole and entire, and the proliferation of “relationship-less” contacts with others.
Hence the need to reflect further on the human person.
Webinar resources
Francis Etheredge Resources
Transgenderism: A Question of Identity
Transgenderism Two: Evidence and Identity (coming soon)
A Shorter Bioethics
Mary and Bioethics: An Exploration
The Word in Your Heart: Mary, Youth and Mental Health